Makoto Shinkai's new work, disaster and cure, breakthrough again?

In 2007, with the romantic work "Five Centimeters Per Second" in the "two-dimensional" circle god, in 2013 with the lonely work "The Garden of Words" completely hit the international reputation, in 2016 with the collection of science fiction, romance and beauty "Your Name" completely out of the circle, whether it is "two-dimensional" or other audiences have been impressed by Shinkai Makoto's highly representative aesthetic thinking and wonderful romantic narrative, "Shinkai Makoto" has also completely become an IP symbol and quality assurance in the animation industry.

This year, this prolific and famous animation director, who produces a new work every three years, once again renewed the "three-year contract" and came to China with new works for exchanges. However, after "Weather Child" encountered a small Waterloo controversy, this new work "Journey to the Bell Bud" is not only a return to Shinkai Makoto's style, but also a breakthrough that is more "Shinkai Makoto" than "Shinkai Makoto".

Disaster and healing

Makoto Shinkai's work is indispensable for disaster narratives, and "Journey to Suzuya" is no exception. The disaster in this work is caused by the 311 earthquake in 2011 and a chain of secondary disasters. This specific catastrophe had such a huge impact on Japanese society that it has become a sinking problem that has been difficult to mention again for many years.

Three years ago, in 2020, when the world fell into the silence of the epidemic, Makoto Shinkai began to think about this film with the theme of disaster. The fear of touching the pain was also relieved by the support of my colleagues. After all, more than ten years have passed, and now is the right time to reflect and look back.

In Makoto Shinkai's previous works, we can see the ultimate beauty of "mystery": hidden emotions; serene, feminine cherry blossom trees or starry sky; the silence that accompanies the faint shade; Even beyond the beauty of nature. But at the same time, in this disaster-prone country, "one session and one meeting" has become a lifelong credo.

A still from Makoto Shinkai's masterpiece "Five Centimeters Per Second"

This has led to a sense of crisis in the bones of the Japanese, an erratic and elusive insecurity about tomorrow and the future. However, the beautiful natural landscape makes the Japanese have a natural closeness and dependence on the wind and snow, so they always "don't know what to do", and the sensitivity to the wind and grass around them has created a national character of "the heart is moved, that is, the knowledge of things and mourns".

A still from Makoto Shinkai's masterpiece "Five Centimeters Per Second"

This kind of personality is categorized in the artwork, which is the cherry blossom petals that fall at five centimeters per second, the lightning and thunder on the day the agreement is fulfilled, the hand that wants to be touched but withdrawn, the bad ending, the regret that it will not be obtained or seen again. These works, which make Shinkai Cheng stand in the two-dimensional world and the international film world, are like fireworks with the most brilliant and extremely lonely magnificence, becoming a unique recognition, but also a psychological burden and an increasingly close "into the pit" barrier.

A still from Makoto Shinkai's masterpiece "The Garden of Words"

Because after 2020, people don't want to see tragedy more and more. The creators sent a similar signal. 62-year-old Hideaki Anno "got out of the house", and Makoto Shinkai, who is about to enter the year of no confusion, also tells a rare story of healing Happy Ending at a time of economic austerity and the decline of East Asia, deconstructing the pressure of "reflecting on disaster" into the courage to "start again".

Take care of reality with remembrance

So in "Journey to the Bell Buds", Makoto Shinkai also achieved a "self-breakthrough". First of all, the disaster in "Journey to the Bell Buds" is not a meteorite or heavy rain in "Your Name" and "Children of the Weather", it is a screen metaphor that adds points to the plot and requires the audience to mobilize their imagination, but a core narrative that directly corresponds to reality. It can be said that "Suzu Bud Journey" is a youth story that tells the story of healing pain and achieving growth after a disaster.

In the movie, the "door" is a very important image. The original translated name of this film and the original Japanese name have the word "household di", that is, "closing the door, locking the door". And the "gate" that needs to be closed by the bell bud appears many times in the "ruins" that connect the two worlds of yin and yang, and all appear at the epicenter of a major earthquake of magnitude 7 or higher in modern Japan.

Therefore, every time the audience closes the door and recite the incantation of the land god, it is a reflection and prayer for the disaster and the remembrance of the deceased. And the "vermido" disaster that happened again on this "ruin" is the embodiment of the demons. Because ruins exist not only in reality, but also in people's hearts.

The PTSD of the survivors, the memory of the victims, is a kind of existence that is "invisible" but enough to destroy the soul. That's why the mantra of closing the door calls out to "the sun does not see God"—a mole living underground, borrowing from the earth, and at the same time, stating the reverence that "man is a passerby." This devotion is not only the inheritance of "mysterious beauty", but also a solemn ceremony and profound remembrance.

The image of "want stone" also carries the most intense family elements in the film. Combined with the dialogue between the grandfather of the male protagonist Kusanata and the important stone "Minister Zuo", it can be speculated that Minister Zuo and Minister are likely to be a pair of parents and children of closed doors. When Suzuya's aunt faced intergenerational problems and Suzuya's quarrel broke out, Minister Zuo also happened to appear.

So the minister who "runs around" and foreshadows disaster is by no means a villain. It is very likely that the Minister Zuo and the Minister lost the opportunity to make up for their family affection because of the sacrifice they made for the disaster, so the minister who returned to his childlike character would frantically show favor to Suzuya to obtain the protection of family affection.

And Suzuya only realized that it was not the minister who was "creating disaster" along the way, but the minister leading him to find his "self". Therefore, although this film is Happy Ending, although it is a healing expression, this most "cute" mascot still carries a tragic profoundness.

Start anew on the ruins

Behind the expression of "Lonely Tokyo", which is especially excellent in the movie, is actually the deepest mourning, and the deepest condolences are precisely the deepest healing. During the lockdown, even the most prosperous cities of the past will become lonely places. And after falling into pessimism, losing emotion, love and attention, even the most prosperous state of mind will become ruins and empty cities.

Therefore, it can be said that the ruin is the closest image to the beauty of "material mourning". It has carried countless stories and emotions, but at the same time there is endless sorrow. In the tug-of-war of modernity or the faltering of time, ruins are more and more often appearing in the bustling cities, or in the hearts of people living in the cities. Just as Kusata is trapped in a three-legged chair, young people are always restrained.

So Makoto Shinkai chose a very "Haruki Murakami" expression. I believe that many viewers will have a sense of déjà vu of "Drive My Car" (adapted from Haruki Murakami's novel of the same name when watching "Suzuya Journey". Both chose to return to the ruins after being imprisoned, and then reached self-reconciliation. Compared with 1987's "lost people are lost, those who meet meet meet again", the topic of "I set off" in 2023 is more consistent.

A still from the movie "Drive My Car"

These four short words are not only the most common lines in movies, but also one of the common phrases in Japanese daily life. In the context of disaster, "I set off" may be the last sentence of infinite sadness. But it is clear that the way Suzuya bravely rushed between disasters gave us the courage to bravely "set off". Although the disaster removed one leg of the chair, the chair can still run.

As the heroine, Ling Ya has also changed her restrained and passive female image, and her initiative, outputting and bravery are not only a "shot in the arm", but also a breakthrough for Shinkai Makoto. At the same time, another typical female figure, Suzuya's aunt who dares to say "no", dares to recognize her desires and even dares to be a runaway Nala, is also an advancement of the female figure in Japanese art.

Admittedly, this film still has some shortcomings, making it farther away from the road of sealing gods. For example, the sudden and strong feelings between the male and female protagonists, such as some too light and thin in the narrative subject, some old-fashioned and old-fashioned, "too many elements" in the theme image, and too simple in emotional expression. At the same time, in terms of technology, Shinkai Makoto retains the same beautiful picture as always, but the use of too many "three-shaded two" technology also makes the mirror movement fall into machinery and rigidity.

Therefore, compared with the "Five Centimeters Per Second" and "Your Name" "Out of the Circle", "Journey to the Bell Bud" is still a little thin, but in the current era of more and more "volume", when self-doubt and self-esteem are becoming more and more prevalent, standing in the center of the ruins, we still have to thank "The Journey of the Bell Bud" for giving us the courage to set off and close the door, as well as the affirmation of the value and dedication of "people".